Keanan Patershuk is not ready to throw in the towel.
The 32-year-old MMA fighter from Rossland is recovering from a loss to Saskatoon’s Hunter Lee in his Feb. 28 bout for the vacant Canadian Middleweight title.
Patershuk thought the fight was going well until the third round technical knockout.
“The first two (rounds), I definitely thought I was catching him with the majority of the strikes, that were in my favour, he wasn’t having any luck on take downs and I had him pretty broken and bloody going into the third round,” said Patershuk.
“I thought I was reeling him in but it’s MMA and stuff happens, one little mistake and you get caught,” he added.
Patershuk had won his last two fights heading into the title shot and despite the loss is determined to overcome the adversity and return to the cage as soon as possible, which means a 90-day rest period in Canada or 60 days in the US following the TKO.
Patershuk’s first MMA fight was four years ago and meant the beginning of a dream come true.
“I was just wasting any athletic ability leading up to MMA,” Patershuk explained.
“Don’t get me wrong, I was loving life, I was a dad and a tradesman here in the local area in my 20s flipping houses, but maybe after the third house, we got to the point where, you know, we’re not happy, let’s sell everything, let’s go on a trip and figure it out when we are back,” commented Patershuk, who said it didn’t take long to “figure it out” once back home.
“My wife within seconds of asking me the question of what I wanted to do when we got back, she already knew I wanted to pursue MMA because I’m one of those guys who needs competition, I’m like a race horse and if I don’t get worked, I’m miserable.”
The first time Patershuk stepped into the ring as an amateur provided everything he expected with something new when compared with his time as a junior hockey player with the Beaver Valley Nitehawks and Trail Smoke Eaters.
“I’d say the biggest difference is when you actually get into the cage and they lock the door,” he began.
“You’re isolated, it’s just you in there, which again, I love that feeling, but it’s definitely something that I’ve had to adapt to and get better at every fight where I have to make the cage and that atmosphere as comfortable as it was when I was playing hockey, you’re in there and it’s home,” he said, noting that there is anxiety and anticipation leading up to every fight.
“It’s a natural thing,” he said.
“You get that anxiety and the heart palpitations, it comes with experience, keeping calm and keeping yourself centred,” Patershuk stated, explaining that remaining calm is the key to success.
“The more nervous energy you burn before a fight, the less steam you are going to have going in,” Patershuk stated.
“So for me it’s a lot of positive self talk, breathing to generally stay calm before a fight, which never has really been a problem for me,” Patershuk said, adding that he can be very difficult to live with for the last couple of days leading up to a fight.
Patershuk now has a professional record of seven wins and four losses and is contemplating a move up from the 185-pound weight class.
“The weight cut (losing pounds to qualify as a middleweight) as never been a problem for me, but just looking back at tape from the last fight, I’m not reacting the way I do in training, my power and my speed isn’t quite there, my cardio hasn’t gone anywhere but big factors are kind of coming into play at that weight class,” Patershuk analyzed.
“At 205 (pounds), I’m still stronger and faster than 95 per cent of the guys, just a little bit of a height difference so, we’ll see, that might be next on the list,” Keanan added, hoping he will continue to live up to his nickname, Porrada.
“It’s Brazilian, so some people say it’s pronounced por-rada or po-hada, basically Brazilian for ‘beat him,’ so if you’ve seen any of my fights for the most part if I don’t catch someone cleanly, I’m generally on top of them delivering a TKO.”
Patershuk says he will keep fighting into his 40s as long as he can make enough money to provide for his family.
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